The Clifton clarion., 1887-04-13
CREATIONS FAC END. WHERE PEOPLE EAT SNAKES. a Mexican State Where Disease, Revolution, and Entcnse Heat
 Are Ever Present.


 the head of government hy revolu- ton four times in seven months, where the mercury is perfectly at home at lpj0 in the shade, where the people cat snakes, and where small poX and yellow fever follow each other in regular succession, year in and year out, may not be a lively enough country for some folks to live in, but it flied the bill for me-" said an oil-well operator from the Penn- sylvania regions.
 "That locality" said ho, ''is the State or District of Tabasco, in Mex ico. l went down there for some parties three years ago, to see what there was in the reports about petro- leum deposits of great richness in the region. There was no way to travel except by canoe and on bronchos, and it was no uncommon thing to travel two hUndred miles or so to reach place fifty miles away as the bird flies. There is plenty of natural pitch or bitumen there, but I couldn't see the prospect of an oil region ever being developed, although. Boston capitalists were begging away with drills in various parts of the district in hope of striking oil. There are 90 ,000 persons living in that dis trict, and all saw of it was one vast area of pest!lapce. The inhabitants are mostly Indians, and they haven't begun to be civilized vet. One loose garment, reaching from the neck to the knees, is all the clothing that either sex wears, and the children run entirely baked the year round. got there in November, and left in July. At no time was the mercury lower than 74' in the shade, and when came away it was 105e.
 "The day before l got to San Juan Baptista, the capital of the State. q couple of citizens had adopted the usual method of changing the Gov, ernment and had shot the Governor, whose name was Foncher, his private secretary, and another member oi his council, while the three were walking in the street. Foncher was the fourth Governor who had been removed in that way since the pre- ceding May. The Governors secre tary and the other official were killed instantly. Governor Foncher fell to the ground, but regained his feet. The two assassins were running away. The Governor fired two shots. One cf the assassins fell dead, and Foncher dropped to the ground ana expired immediately afterward. Tho second assassin ran on. During the night g man WAS found in the stree: suffering, 1t was supposed, with the cholera, it being the season for that annual visitor. He was treated for the disease, and it was not until after he died that bullet hole was dis covered in his back. The bullet was found in his bowels. He was un- doubtedly the second one oi the assassins, showing that the dying Governors shots had both taken effect.
 ."Small-pox appears as soon as winter weather sets in. The natives wegc dying at the rate of twenty-five q day during my stay in Tuxpan, coast village, and the coast was under quarantine. The yellow fever rtakes up the work as soonas thn smallpox takes its yearly vacation, and that in tura rests in tine fall, and cholera varies the monotony of the region until smallpox comes back again. l wagon goes around every night and gathers up the dead at the different houses, am; the bodies are loaded in and carried to the dead lot, . large piece of ground inclosed by q high brick wall. The remains are sorted out and buried next day. was told at Tuxpan that it often happened that persons were, in the hurry of collecting the dead, placed in tho dead wagon before life was really ex- tinct, and that 1t was not uncommon for a person to rise up suddenly in the wagon as it passes on its rounds, glance wildly around until he recog- nizes his situation, and then disen- gage himself from the dead piled about him, jump from the wagon, and move away as long as his strength lasts, or until he is captured by oth- CTS and slowed away in the hospital. Neither is 1t an uncommon circum- stance for the custodian of the dead lot, on opening the gates in the morn- ing, to find two or three persons waiting to get out, having been placed in the lot the night before with a load of dead.
 "The natives live on cracked corn, the flesh of hideous snake fish called the lagarta, and the flesh Of that cheerful-looking reptile or ami nal, or whatever it is, the armadillo. The lagarta is the favorite morsel. It is caught in the stagnant water that is everywhere in the locality. It has the head of serpent, and hali- fish, half-reptile body, covered wifi, horny scales. The mode of cooking 1t is to take it as it comes from the water, run a stick down its throat. and hold it over fire until it is baked. The few Spaniards and Mex jeans who live in the district have their tables supplied with decen; food but it's preparation is not such as to tempt the appetite. l found other parts of Mexico so delightful in every respect that l could hardly bring myself to believe that there could be such an altogether wretched portion of it as that same State of Tabasco. ."-IN. Y. Sun.